A few weeks ago my youngest daughter came to my wife and I and said she heard her own voice in her head. It was shocking to this 5-year-old that she had an inner thought. She realized for the first time that each of us has an “inner person”. We all go on that spiritual journey.
I have taken a serious journey of losing mental battles during the NBA season during the pandemic bubble in Orlando. All my life I’ve faced mental challenges and always felt like I won that battle, but here I was in a bubble defeat.
I didn’t know where to go, what to do, or how to deal with it. It was a unique experience. It combined with reading social media posts and seeing hateful comments that began to affect me, coupled with being cut off from the world, isolated, and unable to sleep.
I had to raise my hand and surrender
Every day felt like being in the same game simulator. The stress from there hit me hard.
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That’s when I had to raise my hand, surrender the flag, and say I needed help. Through my team, I was able to speak to a professional therapist who helped me through the stressors I was feeling.
People think athletes are superheroes and that we are better than the world. There is an expectation of making heroic plays again and again. The game is built on percentages. But a missed shot could have millions of fans online clowning and laughing.
So there is pressure and stress about being an athlete, and there is also stigma when it comes to athletes and their mental health. Even more so in the black community. That sigma among athletes, and in black culture more broadly, is that asking for help is a sign of weakness.
Even beyond that, there is a lack of understanding and awareness of how to get help, who to talk to, and who to trust with an open mind about mental issues.
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Athlete-specific stress factors
It wasn’t long ago that I heard about one of the great mixed martial artists, Georges St-Pierre. He retired young at the height of his career, The reason was mainly stress What preparations for battle caused. I reminded myself that unless you’re an elite athlete, you’re probably unaware of the unique element of stress that athletes experience.
The first NBA players I heard talk about their personal struggles with mental health were Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan. I was surprised to be with my good friend Demar, who we played basketball with in high school.
Don’t assume that by listening to his struggles you know what people are going through or what struggles people have, and be open when you need help. I realized that it’s okay to be, and the worst thing is to ignore or suppress. own mental health.
Everyone has daily stress. For an athlete, it’s expected to perform at a very high level and entertain in front of millions of fans, but usually he doesn’t have to be 100% healthy. That stress can take its toll on you and can sometimes break you down in a clutch moment. This is where it shouldn’t be.
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Asking for help makes you mentally tough
Many people think that asking for help isn’t mentally tough, but it’s quite the opposite. You are a great athlete and can be mentally tough competitively, but if you know that something is going on with your mental health and you can ask for help, it will only make you stronger. .
Facing a mental challenge puts you in a space where you can see that everyone has something that needs to be addressed or something that needs to be faced. It’s nothing big, and it can affect anyone regardless of status, religion, or race.
When I went through mental battles, especially when it came to hateful social media from people I had never met, I appreciated my relationships with my family, the people I was closest with and who knew my personality. Those are important people, not outside noise.
For me, working with a professional helps me meditate, calm my mind, do activities I love, be with people I love, shut out the negativity, and level myself up. I was able to put it back on the set.
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Providing access to affordable care
Raising awareness, removing stigma and providing access to specialized care are essential to solving the mental health crisis facing so many across our community. People are afraid to come out and admit their challenges and ask for help. So I think we need to start there – people get used to it. And it’s all about providing access to affordable care.
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Up until that moment, I never felt like I had a problem with my mental health. When people have that moment, it’s really powerful when there’s a point of reference for someone else to be open about their own struggles and get better by asking for help. It helped me feel comfortable asking for
The more openly we can talk about mental health, the better off we all will be.
I want to be part of the solution, so I’m speaking out now.My Paul George Foundation recently raised awareness and raised up to $3 million 1 month of free therapy for those in need by signing up.
The benefits of caring for your mental health and talking to a professional therapist are, of course, personal, but they are also for all of us as a society. Affordable access leads to less violence, more understanding, more love and empathy.
We are all human and we are all in this together. When it comes to mental health, understanding that not all of us are superheroes is a great place to start.
Paul George plays for the Los Angeles Clippers and is a seven-time NBA All-Star.
To sign up for one month of free therapy, please visit: www.betterhelp.com/Paulgeorge
